Google Glass is due to receive an update in 2015, and if a Google patent submitted last month is any indication, it could include a new feature to let wearers use their fingerprints, or scans of their eyes, instead of passwords on websites.

While tech aficionados get ready to shell out cash for smart watches and other “smart” wearables hitting the market, developer Julian Oliver is looking to quash the potential surveillance capabilities of such devices. Oliver, an engineer, artist, and open-source advocate based in Berlin, aims to do that with a new device called Cyborg Unplug. Expected to be available for pre-order on September 30, Cyborg Unplug is described as a “wireless anti-surveillance system for the home and workplace.”

What if an app could reveal what the person you are having a conversation with is feeling? This Google Glass app, a soon to be launched smart eye-wear app not only does that for you but can also tells the person’s age. The emotion recognition software analyses that the video on the tiny computer hidden inside the Google eye-wear reveals emotions. It can gauge emotions such as anger, happiness, sadness, and surprise then displays this information on screen, media reports said.

X6 glasses Imagus Technology is providing facial recognition technology to be used in new spy glasses designed by Osterhout Design Group, which have already confirmed about 500 pre-orders with the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency. Dr. Brian Lovell, director of Imagus, is ecstatic about the startup’s facial recognition technology being used in the X6 glasses. “This […]

As Google Glass continues toward an inevitable public release, users (and developers) are still trying to puzzle out exactly what the device is best suited for. There are games, cooking apps, news alert apps, and of course a tidy bundle of Google services in the slowly expanding list of official Glassware. Of course, there’s more to Glass than official Glassware. Developers are making some fairly compelling tools for Google’s eyeball computer, and Brivo Labs, in an effort to "explore the future of wearable technology," recently published a demonstration of one such tool. OKDoor, an app that beams visitors to your Glass and allows users to grant (or deny) access with a tap, is actually a demonstration of Brivo’s SAM API, a tool Brivo Labs is developing as "a game changer in the way people interact and manage everyday access needs." Of course this includes opening physical doors. Brivo says SAM can authenticate visitors with various credentials, and provisioning access can be hooked into social networks like Facebook and Twitter. As the quick video below shows, OKDoor essentially functions by beaming footage from your door’s camera (assuming there is one) to your sight line, at which point you need only tap twice to unlock the door. Further details about just how OKDoor works are unclear right now, but Brivo says they’ll be showing it off – along with SAM – at SXSW this year. Does the potential of a less-than-warm yet oh-so-automated welcome for your visitors seem compelling enough to […]

Google Glass is Being Beta Tested in New York Police Department The New York City Police Department ’s intelligence and analytics unit is testing out Google Glass to determine if it’s a fit for investigating terrorists and helping cops catch criminals. According to VentureBeat , the department recently received several pairs of the glasses to beta-test. A Google spokesman told VentureBeat that the NYPD likely got their glasses through the Google Glass Explorer program, where people interested in buying them must apply, and then wait for their application to get accepted or denied. Those who get accepted must then play the $1,500 price tag to acquire them. The NYPD might take advantage of the wireless facial recognition software. Google Glass could help with matching suspects’ faces to information in numerous police databases and federal law enforcement agencies. For example, this would give investigators a way to see a suspect’s criminal record while interviewing them. Various liberty groups have spoken out against the department’s intended usage, as it could potentially violate the privacy rights of innocent citizens, while other law enforcement officials state that the glasses’ ability to “spy” on suspects is limited. However, the NYPD remains optimistic. “We think it could help impact patrol operations in New York City,” one NYC law enforcement official told VentureBeat . “We shall see.” [via Venture Beat ] Stay Connected with Follow Tags: nypd , google , google-glass , beta

Screen Shot 2013-12-15 at 5.09.17 PM Since Google Glass first appeared, its potential for facial recognition has been seen either as a privacy nightmare or as one of the headset’s first truly intriguing uses. Google has declared itself in the first camp. Stephen Balaban is in the second, and he’s about to share his vision with Glassheads everywhere, whether Google likes it or not. At the Chaos Communications Congress hacker conference in Hamburg later this month, 24-year-old Balaban and his startup Lambda Labs plan to release an unauthorized app for Glass that allows users to collect and catalog images of faces seen through its lens, along with other recognizable objects ranging from computer screens to license plates. The app, which Balaban is calling FaceRec, will give Glass-wearers the ability to integrate that data with location coordinates to create a map of who or what the user saw when and where. And on Friday, Lambda Labs will also begin taking pre-orders for an Android-based, Glass-like device it’s calling the the Lambda Hat, a $255 camera-enabled cap designed to be even better suited for that always-on computer vision. “As you collect data over time, you can start to ask questions like, who was that person I talked to during the last month at the Rosewood?” Balaban says. “Give it a geolocation, and you can find all the pictures and timestamps at that location, and it will show you all the people you saw.” Lambda’s app, to be clear, isn’t meant for wide adoption even […]

Worried about so-called “Glassholes” automatically identifying the faces of people around them? Google says it doesn’t want that to happen, either. The company tonight posted an update to developer policies for its wearable device Google Glass that explicitly disallows facial recognition apps. It explained in a Google+ update: “As Google has said for several years, […]

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Access control and the overall physical security market continue to grow at a rapid pace with no signs of slowing down. Market research expects the access control industry to grow to over $10B by 2022 which is about 9% CAGR. So, what’s driving this growth? There are several trends and disruptive technologies that are driving acceleration in a category that has traditionally been slower to migrate.

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